Misdiagnosis?

Hi everyone my name is Colleen and when I was 11 I was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder but none of the medications worked for me they either made me act borderline psychotic or a zombie. I've been off medication for 5 years now and after a lot of digging and trying to find out what might be the cause of my behavior as a child and now I've come to the conclusion that my behaviors now and as a child resonate more with the autism spectrum than with bipolar disorder but because I'm female and seem "normal" it's been impossible for me to get a real diagnoses. Is there anyone who might be able to give me a correct diagnosis because while I've come a long way I definitely need some help.

I've been having really bad anxiety over the last couple years because of a roommate I had who was trying to help but ended up having the opposite outcome.

Hello Colleen: I see this is your first post here on PC. So... welcome to PsychCentral! I hope you find PC to be of benefit.

I'm sorry but we here on PC cannot diagnose you. Most of us are not mental health professionals. Our purpose here is to exchange information & experiences as well as to provide one another with support. There are quite a few quizzes & tests here on PC you can take. Here's a link to the listing:

Psychological Quizzes and Tests

There are, of course, forums dedicated to bipliar disorder as well as autism. Here are links to these forums:

https://forums.psychcentral.com/bipolar/

https://forums.psychcentral.com/auti...er-s-syndrome/

And then here are links to 4 articles, from PsychCentral's archives that may be of some interest:

Autism Overview - What Is It? Is There a Test for It?

Asperger's Syndrome

https://psychcentral.com/lib/adult-a...dium=popular17

https://psychcentral.com/lib/debunki...yndrome/?all=1

Hi Colleen, welcome to PC. I really do not know and am not qualified to diagnose, but perhaps you could see a professional counselor or psychiatrist who could diagnose you. Misdiagnosis is absolutely something that can happen. I myself was misdiagnosed when I was younger (in my 20s). I hope you find what you need here, and out there.

a few thoughts here....

a childs body is different than an adults body so it stands to reason that problems that a child was diagnosed with would no longer be an issue as an adult.

also medications are not a fit one and all kind of thing sometimes it takes many many years of trying this and trying that and going through the process of having years of meds not working in order to find that one right medication or combination of meds that will work. it may be that through the years of being on meds your body was actually helping your treatment providers to weed out the meds and categories of meds that would not work for you and they just hadnt found that right combo for you yet.

we can not give you a diagnosis online. the only people that can give you a diagnosis is medical and mental health treatment providers in your own locations off the computer. you will need to contact mental health agencies in your area and ask them if they have someone who does diagnostic testing, go through all the mental and physical health tests then they will be able to tell you what your physical and mental health problems are. then they will be able to work with you on a treatment plan. if the treatment plan is medication give them a try, and remember sometimes you have to go through a mess of them in order to find the right ones for you and your body's mental and physiology.

The so called Cambridge Test with 50 questions is not very good for female aspies, it's very very male dominated and I wish it would say in the description. Just like real life often misses to diagnose female aspies, so does this test.

Sorry, I just hate it, and Baron-Cohen, the narcissist behind it.

Welcome to PC

When you say it's difficult to get a real diagnosis because you are a female and seem "normal", I'd say ask for a second opinion from your treatment providers. Demand a neuropsych eval. Insurance companies may fight paying, but be an advocate for yourself.